Wakiya rose with a groan on his unsteady feet. He shook his head to clear his blurred vision and took in his surroundings. He was in a bedroom, plain and sparsely decorated.

Any further analysis was pushed away by a noisy groaning coming from above.

He looked up just in time to see the ceiling give way completely. He jumped back against the wall as debris and snow fell with a massive thud into the room. He coughed away the dust and shivered in the new cold that found its way into the house via the sizable hole in the roof.

"And I t-thought the c-ceiling wouldn't collapse." He muttered through chattering teeth.

The fog cleared completely... and revealed a nightmare.

The thud had not come from the debris and the ceiling had not given from the tendrils.

The dark figure that now stared at Wakiya was huge, easily four added from the enormous tendrils that emerged from its back. It stared at him with eyes that burned like red-hot coals and grinned with a mouth full of dagger-like fangs.

Wakiya's mouth became dry as sand. "S... Slender?"

Slendermans grin grew wider and it tilted its head in acknowledgement.

Wakiya was no longer sure if his shaking was from the cold or from fear. "I... I'm Wakiya Murasaki. Nice... to... meet you?"

Slenderman seemed to pause a moment in consideration then nodded his head again.

"So... how about we trade that for a free pass tonight."

Again Slenderman seemed to consider... then shook his blank head with a smirk.

Wakiya's upper lip trembled. "But that isn't supposed to be fair, you know!"

Slenderman shrugged his thin shoulder and took a heavy step towards Wakiya.

"Hey! No-face!"

Both Slenderman and Wakiya looked to the room's doorway.

Rantaro squared himself and glared, striking a pose like the Batman. He was done being scared and was now furious that the same monster that had taken his best friend was now threatening the recipient of his first kiss. He rushed to the faceless figure. "GET YOUR FILTHY HANDS AWAY FROM SUPERMAN!"

Rantaro jumped straight up so high and landed like a comet. He kicked Slenderman in the chest and knocked it right through the wall and into the huge fog.

Wakiya stared in wonder.

Rantaro raced to his side and looked him over. "Are you okay?" Seeing his amazed stare, he grinned. "Yeah, I just kicked that thing's butt! The Batman way!"

"Thanks a lot, Ran-."

"Nope! Not Rantaro!" Rantaro kindly interrupted. "Just call me Batman!"

"Whatever!" Wakiya threw his hands before remembering where he was. "I also might freeze to death."

Rantaro shook his head and ran off from the bedroom. "Save it for later, Superman. We've gotta get out of here."

Wakiya followed his new superhero partner with a bemused smile on his face. "Whatever you say, Batman."

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

"Now you'll keep calm and quiet." Shu took a torch and passed it to Daigo who passed it along to Valt. "We'll wait here a while and..."

Slenderman suddenly came inside the shed. Valt, Toko, Nika and Kitt screamed as the tall creature landed on its feet. He quickly focused its attention on them, it moved closer as it turned its head sharply.

Valt saw the black tendrils and screamed again as three little kids hid under the table.

"Slenderman." Daigo whispered in terrified wonder. He shook off his amazement and placed himself firmly in front of his friends. "Don't even move one more step!"

Slenderman narrowed with no eyes and. The back was wrapped in tendrils that coiled like snakes.

Whatever was in the sack was still moving.

Daigo called on his last reserves of courage and returned its glare. "You're not gonna take them all. I'll die first."

Slenderman grinned and nodded, as though he had just described his exact plan.

"Daigo?"

Daigo looked back at Valt and Shu, his last remaining friends, and remembered the promise he'd made to his little brother. "I'll take care of this."

Valt stared at him, frozen with fear.

Daigo looked back at the creature. "You're not a mindless monster. You can make deals, right?"

Slenderman tilted his head curiously.

"You've already taken four of my friends. That's a pretty good haul for you, I imagine that."

Slenderman grinned. His teeth glistened in the pit of his mouth.

"If I make it a nice round five, and I go willingly, will you leave these us alone?"

Valt's paralysis broke and he darted forward. "Daigo, no!"

A quick thinking Shu put his hand on Valt's mouth, holding fast. He stared at Daigo with complete shock, that this guy would sacrifice himself for him.

Slendermans grin faded and he curled his lip in obvious distaste for the deal.

"It'll work out for you in the end. We will tell everyone what happened here tonight. You'll be more feared than ever."

Slenderman's grimace faded as he considered the bargain.

"Daigo!" Valt screamed. He kicked wildly at Shu's grip. "Let me go!"

Daigo ignored Valt as best he could. "Well? Have we got a deal?"

Slenderman stared at him... and nodded.

Daigo finally looked back at Valt and smiled, tears in her eyes. "I love you guys. Take care of Ryota for me."

Valt wailed as the tendrils unwrapped themselves from its back and darted out. They wrapped themselves around Daigo and locked securely in place. The sack fell onto its side and opened wide. Within there was a great black void from which the only sounds that could be heard were wailing winds and loud static.

Daigo stood fast as the chains began to drag him towards the sack.

Tears flowed down Shu's face as he held as tightly to Valt as he could. As he stared at Daigo's approach to his fate, he noticed something amazing.

Daigo was getting... younger.

Every inch the black tendrils dragged him seemed to take the years away from Daigo. Soon he was a loyal person. Another few inches and he was a little boy on the cusp of childhood. At the threshold of the sack, he was a little boy not much younger than the ones he had just given his life to protect.

Even Doomscizor was gone.

Slenderman watched the scene with quiet amusement... and then he took a step towards them.

Daigo looked back with terrified eyes. "NO!" It was a little boy's cry, shockingly similar to Ryota's own. "WE HAD A DEAL!"

Slenderman simply laughed and took another heavy step.

Slenderman began to struggle against the enchanted tendrils, his honed by muscles no longer at his call.

He felt his hand touch the edge of the sack.

He looked back at the void and felt his blood freeze. Standing just inside the bag were two boys and two girls. The boy was unnaturally tall for his age. One of the little boys hair was green, the other boy's hair was black and the little girl's hair was blue.

They were all smiling at him and laughing.

Tears ran from their eyeless sockets.

Daigo felt the tendrils loosen and turned to flee...

...and watched as the sack drew itself closed, held tightly closed by the enchanted tendrils.

His last wail echoed through the shed.

Valt screamed in agony and fell limp upon the floor of the shed. Shu moved his hand away and sat heavily by his side.

Slenderman took another step, chuckling loudly. The static grew louder and louder with every horrible peal of laughter that came from his throat.

Shu got down on his knees beside Valt, resigned to his fate.

"I'm sorry." Shu muttered.

"What?"

"I'm sorry I abandoned our friendship." He sobbed as he looked into Valt's eyes. "I'm sorry that I held a grudge against you for so long."

Valt sniffled. "I know."

Shu and Valt embraced, holding each other protectively.

"You're a good friend, Shu. I never told you that. I love you."

"You saved me, Valt. That's the best thing anyone's ever done for me." Shu closed his eyes as he felt Valt's lips touching his. "You're the best friend anypony could ask for."

Slenderman leaned towards them.

The torch all died as one.

The shed was suddenly filled with blazing light.

Slenderman backed away with a surprised look. He looked at the roof of the shed in confusion. The sun was not supposed to rise for hours yet.

But the light was not coming from outside.

Slenderman looked back at his prey...and found they were on fire.

The two were coated in two dancing flames that gave an unearthly light. One of the flames was blue and the other was red. The heat that came from the flames were comforting and strong but not overwhelming. The light was the light of safety and security.

Shu and Valt were emitting the light of Valtryek and Spryzen's Flame itself.

Slenderman roared in fury, determined not to be denied his prize. He reached out his hand to grab the pair...

...and was touched by the flame.

Slenderman cried out in shock and anger as his hand caught flame. The fire spread across his entire being. He struggled against the fire's heat and light, tried to retreat into his comforting cold and darkness, but the flame would not be denied.

Valtryek and Spryzen decreed that Slenderman had had his fill of misery this Halloween.

The fire spread across the whole of Slenderman's enormous frame. He bellowed in defiance, but it was far too late. The light and heat grew and grew, forcing Grogar's essence back to the tree for now. The tendrils seemed to scream as the sack was caught as well, the static finally decreased.

For an instant, the inside of the shed was brighter than the brightest daylight.

Then, just as suddenly as it had appeared, the light was gone.

Slenderman's final scream faded into silence. The howling wind petered out and died.

Shu and Valt pulled apart and stared at each other in wonder. "Did we...?"

"Is he...?"

Wide grins broke out on their faces and they embraced again, laughing with joy.

"Valt!" Toko and Nika tackled and hugged their big brother as Kitt crawled out of the table and stood up, grinning in relief.

"Hello?"

They looked up to see Rantaro, Wakiya and Honey standing in the shed's open doorway. Which they did get her out of the villa to save her.

Wakiya was staring at the ground beside the Valt and Shu. "Uh... is that what I think it is?"

All eyes fell on a teddy bear that now rested on the ground. Engraved in ornate writing along a teddy bear's belly was a single phrase, repeated over and over again;

Go To Sleep

The three bladers and the little kids screamed as a figure jumped in from the hole in the roof. Someone's hair were moving like the flame.

Someone reached out a hand and showed a thumb up.

Valt swallowed. "Lui?"

Lui looked up sharply. Her mouth was dry in a rictus grin. His eye sockets were empty and staring, tears still running down his cheeks.

Valt reached behind him and carefully handed his biggest rival Nightmare Luinor.

For a single instant, Lui grabbed Nightmare Lui and smiled at Valt with kindness in her eyes. "Thanks. Doesn't mean I like you though."

"I know..." Shu shrugged.

But the spell was broken. The grinning ghoul that Lui had become bent down, and vanished out the hole in the roof and into the night beyond.

The silence that followed seemed to stretch on forever.

"Well." Wakiya clapped his hands together and looked around at everyone. "At the risk of not sounding cool in front of my new superhero friend, I could really use my ride home right about now."

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

The fog had cleared completely by the time the sun began to rise. Everyone emerged from the shed at first light and started the head back home. For the rest of the night, they'd comforted each other and did their best to get some sleep.

Now it was time to find the others and tell them what had happened.

Valt looked at Shu. "What's going to happen to you now?"

"I dunno." Shu shrugged as he walked. "I suppose I'll go back to America to stay in the Raging Bulls."

"And have my new boyfriend leave for a few years?! No way!" Valt hugged Shu's arm. "You can come over to my house if you want to."

Shu let out a handsome chuckle. "And you'll have no problem getting your mom to agree to that."

Valt grinned. "Mom likes it when we're napping when we were kids just because she thinks we're cute." He sighed. "I guess next year we'll go trick or treating and having a Halloween party."

Behind them, Wakiya was briefing Rantaro on what to do around everyone at school. "Most importantly, do not tell everyone that we're superheroes."

"Why not?" Rantaro laughed. "We saved the day, did we?"

"Of course we did!" Wakiya yelled. "But if they catches even an blazing of the fact that we're wearing ridiculous costumes, they'll start taking a picture of us!"

Everyone laughed at Wakiya's hilarious rant about being the superhero. The two were standing frozen in the middle of the road.

"I... I don't think it's going to be a problem." Shu muttered.

Rantaro and Wakiya pushed up until they could see what had spooked the other two.

Wakiya fell face first into the ground in a dead faint.

Rantaro ran to the tree and started throwing up.

The little kids started screaming uncontrollably and raced ahead as fast as they could.

Valt collapsed on his knees and started to laugh uncontrollably, tears running down his cheeks as the sound became not that much unlike a loud, keening cry.

Shu looked back on the night before.

"We're here so our parents could get rid of us for the night."

"Discarded on Halloween."

"...we are all being punished for it."

"It's not about what you believe or how old you are anymore! He's here now, and he will not stop until he has claimed us all."

Everything's ruined.

Dead people were hanging up from all of the trees, all with the broken dolls. Their eye sockets were gone and blood were falling down their cheeks.

From out of nowhere, Spryzen himself walked beside Shu. He took in the devastated town with shock and horror. He looked down at his partner and touched his shoulder. "Shu... what happened here?"

Shu looked up at Spryzen with his hair covered his eyes. A single tear ran down his cheek. "Slender. Slenderman came here and punished them. He punished them all." He grinned. "But for now, Spryzen... You should just... Go to sleep."

Without another word, he wrapped his arms around Valt's waist and joined him in his screaming laughter.

The sound of madness echoed in the emptiness.

And above that, just barely audible, was the sound of the static.